“Huuu…. Again.” I said to myself, just after coming out of the apothecary I had come here, a muddy open field. I had to do something about my magic problem, its getting annoying having to find a clump of actually usable mana, and if I tried only using the mana inside me I would be done for after just a couple spells. I had to use the lowest level of speed spell to boost myself earlier.
Not only that, I have to chant when I wanted to cast magic, that’s how the wolves knew when I would release them! Its just too much of an annoyance and a handicap.
‘Thy must solve the chanting problem first. It would be an easier task’
‘I know’
After years of being together, me and Apita had reached a point where we could talk with our thoughts only and hide our thinking from each other. Which was great since I didn’t need to have a fox leaking thoughts of eating all day long inside my mind, it’s much more peaceful since he learned to block his thoughts.
Ehe, thankfully could I hid fact I was thinking of solving the mana problem first, I would’ve gotten laughed at for hours. Apita’s idea is better now that I think of it, not that I would’ve told him.
‘Apita you could sense the clouds can’t you? Gather some of the for me.’
‘That I could, however……’
‘Ugh, pretty please.’
‘Since thou asked so nicely I shall, wait for a moment till I come back.’
Hmm, I should recover my energy while waiting for him, I can’t use magic without mana from my core. I plopped down on the grass, ouch that hurt. I focused on my mana core, imagining it spinning and pulling at the nearby mana, shortly neutral mana started to group together inside my mana core. Now that I think of it, what turns outside mana into MY mana.
I wonder why?
Is it the fact that its inside me? No that’s wrong, it takes a bit of time for mana that goes inside me to become mine. What makes it so different? I could freely use the mana from my core but not mana from the outside, but after injecting it with some of mine suddenly I could use them.
What’s differentiating my mana and other peoples mana? Its impossible to manipulate their magic, but why? Imaginary cat ears popped out from my head as my brain spun around trying to think of a solution.
What allows me to control outside mana after injecting my own mana? Is it like a parasite? Or is it more like sending a signal? If only I could just ask mana what the answer was. Ugh! I'm too curious now!
‘Why mana, why?’
‘bea—… nam—…’
‘W-who spoke right there!?’ I looked around nervously, then I heard the same response over and over, from every direction. All of them equally didn’t finish their words, I jumped up and my eyes scanned even more frantic than before. Then it clicked for me, half-conscious mana spoke. ‘They’ spoke.
'—Ame.' 'Because— ...me' '...name' 'Sign—' 'It's abou—' 'Na—' '.... is the answer.' 'its all about na—' 'Iden—' '...ignatur—'
Is this happening because of the ruins? Didn’t that weird tombstone had a rune that said listen? Didn’t I start to hear those weird voices after the rune disappeared. Didn’t I start having problems using mana after the rune disappeared. There was only a single conclusion I got, the stone gave me the ability to ‘communicate’ with mana.
They answered because I asked, but they aren’t fully alive so they couldn’t finish their words. Still. They gave me an answer, even if it was incomplete. I sat back down. I need think about this, they already gave me the hint.
‘Thank you mana’ They became silent again.
Name. name name name. What’s special about names? Maybe because it is an identity, a name correlates to a person. Does stories need names to latch on? Hold on, I think I have a faint recollection of dad talking about mana signatures when hunting mana beasts.
Signature, names. They both are both correlate to our identity. Maybe identities are a part of our souls? No, I never heard about it being a part of souls. Do we infuse mana with an identity when inside our cores? Yes, the mana becoming mine is proving it right now. How did I just realize it right now, I should've already known a long time ago. Is Apita right? that I’m actually dumb.
But how does mana actually get infused with our identity? Maybe it—
“Is thou ready? I have collected plenty of specimens of mana to be used.”
“Thanks Apita.”
Well I better focus on this task first, I’ll continue this thought later.
I took the mana clouds from the my friend, gathering it around me. Huu…. I should start easy first. Right now the most non-volatile and easy to control element would be earth.
Basic shapes, how about a square. Focus on a thought.
‘Square’
As I imagined a cube made of dirt, hundreds of piercing voices assaulted my metaphorical ears. It came from every direction. ‘Shut up, shut up, shut up’ I winced my eyelids hard, trying to block out the voices. My hands still on the ground trying to manipulate it.
They filled my mind with extra thoughts and emotions, some happy and some less joyful, like wraiths tormenting my mind. After a whole dozen seconds, they finally stopped.
I lifted my hands of the ground, there stood a single cube made of compressed dirt. I did it.
‘ARGH! That hurt, thy needs to learn to silence those voices. They are infecting even my mind.’
‘Sorry, but how the heck would I do that!’ ‘By blocking thy mind dumbass’
‘Oh right. Still that’s going to be hard with their sheer quantity.’ ‘Just do it.’
He actually does give good ideas once in a while, was that already two in a row? Okay, what should I make next? Maybe reshape the cube into a cone, with some tapered threads on it, like a drill, oh and make it bigger too. This time make sure to focus on blocking the voices out, just like how you would block Apita from speaking with you.
I placed my hands on the dirt cube, this time remembering to form a mental barrier. I started to mix my mana with the surrounding mana, just like last time the voices in an instant started to assaulted me again.
Even with a mental barrier it was loud, I need to reinforce it. I focused and imagined my mind, building a metaphorical brick wall around it. That’s better, they are still there, but not hurting my head and just whispering harmlessly like white noise.
I pushed the mana inside the ground, the earth wriggled in response. Then I pulled it upwards, patting it onto the cube, adding mass and reshaping it into my desired form.
First, I made it into a pyramid, then I softened the edges into a curve till it became a smooth cone. Finally I traced my hands in a spiral around the cone, carving the threads into existence.
I commanded it float upwards, till it was higher than my sitting height. I waved my right hand to motion it to spin, my left to signal and control the direction the drill was aimed. This was getting fun, I was curious how far I could take this.
I thought to just send it flying into a tree, but I shot down the idea in favour of going further, I still could do more, there was more than enough mana around me. I just need to be creative.
I sent even more mana from my core to mingle with the surrounding mana, then plunging them into the dirt. I imagine more drill of the same shape like before being created, then ascending to the surface besides the pre-existing construct.
So they did. My mind ached having to focus so much, splitting my focus for two difficult tasks is not doing me any favors.
After a while, there were now five identical drills side by side with each other, spinning at the same speed. But, there were still more mana left around me, I could go further, I wonder could I do this?
Curiously I started to form another set of spells, homing magic. I instinctively knew how to make the needed runes, when di I know that? Oh well, probably something to do with mana speaking maybe. After finishing their creation, I inserted them into the constructs.
Hmm, I wanted to do something with my fire, oh wait, maybe I actually can. I forced the leftover mana to gather inside the drills and burned it to increase the heat. The earth melted into molten lava, but I made sure they kept their shapes.
Now they were perfect. My head is going to be sore after this, definitely.
I stood up, one hand near my waist and the other raised on the same height of my shoulder, pulled behind me ready to strike with the palm open.
I struck my hand forward, in a pushing motion. At my signal the drills shot forward, guided by a spell they homed simultaneously into the trunk of a single tree. “*Thud!*” The tree fell down, completely cut down from its mid-section. Soon, the plant caught on fire, it burned brightly.
“Hehe, guess I’m pretty talented. Take that doubters!”
“Did thou have to do that, It took a quite some time to gather them all. Quite the wasteful one thou are.”
“Ehe sorry, can you get some more Apita? I promise I will treat you half my dinner.”
“Fine, but thou must hold thy word. If not, thy shall have hell to pay.” The fox ran back into the forest, remembering to click his tongue at me first.
I actually did pretty good. But it took too much focus, I could do that with ease before. Now making just one is making my head ache. I need a couple more hours of training.
“*Yawn* Guess I should sleep while waiting for him, it’s the sunlight’s fault for making me warm and comfortable.”
